I’m consistently surprised by how few managers and executives have a game plan for their one-on-one sessions with team members. Just ask those team members, as too many describe these sessions with the boss as infrequent or inconsistent, ineffective, and in some cases, intolerable. Here are 7 ideas to help you increase the effectiveness of your one-on-one sessions for all parties:
The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Leadership Caffeine™—Focus on What Matters
Your real battle as a leader is the one for your focus. It’s a battle too many lose. It’s imperative you figure out what matters and then focus. Learn to feed the mission, not the machine.
Leadership Caffeine™—Harnessing the Power of Purpose in Your Work
If we’re not involved in moon-shots or mars-shots but rather working for seemingly pedestrian causes or offerings, how do we manufacture that sense of purpose? It’s easy, fall in deep love with the people we’re ultimately helping with our work.
Lead Like Lives Depend Upon It—Six Leadership Lessons from Pfizer’s Moon-Shot
What if we led as if lives and livelihoods depended on the outcome? There are some great lessons from the vaccine moon-shot described by Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla in the latest issue of Harvard Business Review. It’s time to put these lessons to work in all of our organizations.
It’s Past Time to Rethink the Role (and Label) of Manager
The view on the role of Manager is a relic of yesterday’s thinking and practice in management. It’s an industrial revolution hangover that is ripe for retirement to a museum display. The label and old meaning don’t hunt in a digital world.
Career Reinvention Journal—Solving Your Career Pivot Puzzle
There’s a Rubik’s Cube puzzle to solve when considering your “next” options in your career. Solving this puzzle requires you to think differently about yourself—something that requires thoughtful introspection and outside support.
Fixing the Fatal Flaw in New Manager Development
There’s a great deal we don’t get right in our organization when developing our first-time managers. Peel the layers of the onion and ultimately, you find a fatal flaw in the nature of the promoting manager to new manager relationship. Here are some ideas to fix that flaw:
Think Differently About Engaging with Your Organization’s Top Leaders
Your assumption that they’re busy doing top-leader things and don’t want to hear from you is partially flawed. Most senior leaders I’ve worked with and around love to hear from individuals at all levels. Here are five ideas to help you think differently about engaging with your organization’s top leaders:
Leadership Caffeine™—Five Questions that Will Help You Strengthen as a Decision-Maker
Effective decision-making demands discipline and process. A good starting point is asking yourself and your team some key questions.
Leadership Caffeine™—Six Steps to Help You Start Strong with Your New Team
The point in time when you step into a new leadership role is simultaneously exciting and uncomfortable. Your start-up as the new boss is the early-awkward phase for everyone involved. Here are six steps to help you start strong with your new team:









